NPC/DNPC Deaths

[Blue]

WARNING: Possible Spoiler related to DC Comics "Identity Crisis" Issue #1.

 

With all the mentions on this board of killing heroes and killing villains, I'd like to bring up the underexplored topic of killing off the beloved NPC or DNPC.

 

Now I know you're all natural born storytellers, so inundate us with tales of solemn loss of the beloved normals.

 

This all comes to mind incidentally because of the new DC Comics series "Identity Crisis", which begins with the death of a beloved "normal" character, what would be quite obviously a DNPC of one of the book's heroes, and just how much that one death will impact the DC world and its characters. (Good book, btw, and I'm not even all that familiar with DC Comics stuff)

 

So have you done the villainous, vile act of murdering an NPC or DNPC to great impact on your player characters?

[Magmarock]

Re: NPC/DNPC Deaths

 

I very rarely get the chance, since most of the time my Players build PCs that don't have DNPCs. Probably for this very reason. Too bad, too... because they are missing out on a lot of angst.

 

I think they prefer not having to care about a specific character.

 

 

Mags

[RobCRogers]

Re: NPC/DNPC Deaths

 

With all the mentions on this board of killing heroes and killing villains, I'd like to bring up the underexplored topic of killing off the beloved NPC or DNPC.

 

Now I know you're all natural born storytellers, so inundate us with tales of solmen loss of the beloved normals.

 

This all comes to mind incidentally because of the new DC Comics series "Identity Crisis", which begins with the death of a beloved "normal" character, what would be quite obviously a DNPC of one of the book's heroes, and just how much that one death will impact the DC world and its characters. (Good book, btw, and I'm not even all that familiar with DC Comics stuff)

 

So have you done the villainous, vile act of murdering an NPC or DNPC to great impact on your player characters?

Since the book's barely been out a week, a spoiler warning might be handy here, especially since the book's title isn't even in the header.

 

I wouldn't kill a DNPC without the player's buy-in unless the player did something really stupid or careless (like ignoring the DNPC's obvious danger to address something else).

 

One of my players gets upset in general when any innocents are killed in the story (he and I have slightly different views on what "4-color" entails).

 

I once killed an NPC hero who was part of the team (a sort of GM PC). I did it for dramatic effect and only after one of the PCs had warning that the character might actually die if he (the PC) proceeded with his course of action. He proceeded (it was more or less in character for him to do so), and the NPC died. It had repercussions, but I'm not sure I'd call it "great impact."

[Blue]

Re: NPC/DNPC Deaths

 

Sorry, Rob. I made it a point not to mention the name of the person, but I guess that didn't go far enough.

 

I can't edit the title (or take back the knowledge if I've ruined it for you), but I have put a warning at the beginning of the first post.

[RobCRogers]

Re: NPC/DNPC Deaths

 

Sorry, Rob. I made it a point not to mention the name of the person, but I guess that didn't go far enough.

 

I can't edit the title (or take back the knowledge if I've ruined it for you), but I have put a warning at the beginning of the first post.

Not a huge deal for me--I've already read it. But I remember the pain of chancing across similar things in the past. I wasn't trying to give you a hard time--just suggesting you might want to edit the opening post, as you've done.

[zornwil]

Re: NPC/DNPC Deaths

 

Since the book's barely been out a week, a spoiler warning might be handy here, especially since the book's title isn't even in the header.

 

I wouldn't kill a DNPC without the player's buy-in unless the player did something really stupid or careless (like ignoring the DNPC's obvious danger to address something else).

 

One of my players gets upset in general when any innocents are killed in the story (he and I have slightly different views on what "4-color" entails).

 

I once killed an NPC hero who was part of the team (a sort of GM PC). I did it for dramatic effect and only after one of the PCs had warning that the character might actually die if he (the PC) proceeded with his course of action. He proceeded (it was more or less in character for him to do so), and the NPC died. It had repercussions, but I'm not sure I'd call it "great impact."

A PC, the Troll (Eliot Sihn), had a mother that resented him, seeing him as a monstrous mutant and blaming him for much of her troubles - further complicating matters/increaseing her resentment, she had to escape from China with the child lest it and her be possibly destroyed. Anyway, there was a tense history there!

 

In the early part of the campaign the PC attempted to reconcile with his mother, continuing to work through his anger related to her (much of that anger being what made the character a dark hero). They in fact did, over time, become gradually closer. And he saw that she had her own issues/weaknesses, as she continued to borrow money from him, and he found out, investigating due to the irregularity, that she had a gambling problem, a rather serious one. And in fact she was indebted, ultimately, to the Kingpin's organization, the very same organization he was fighting in his superhero identity. He arranged a deal with the mob boss that they had already gotten under some control by that time to take care of much of her debt, and he had hoped to continue to help her out long-term, though she was too proud to ever admit to having a gambling problem.

 

The player wanted some angst for his character so...here's how this happened, it came up at the end of a regular game session where they had faced an unrelated bunch of bad guys. From http://www.realschluss.org/x-champions/x-champions_issues/15_bogeyman_returns.htm

 

Sihn finally confronts his mother about her gambling problem. She's resentful of course at first, and redirects the blame on him, calling him a bad son for accusing her of such a thing. But eventually she breaks down and begins crying; she appreciates his heart-felt concern. She even finally says, "I love you" to Eliot. He returns the sentiment, mentally marveling - this is the first time she's ever said that to him. He also receives news, directly, outside of Palmer his legal counsel, that the government is willing to give him some sort of special relationship, a sort of deep level of trust/contact, in return for dropping any abuse charges. Eliot's happy - things are looking up. Both his mother and the federal government doesn't look so bad anymore.

 

A couple days later he receives a call very early at home, at 5 AM. Caller ID shows it's from his mother's house. A male voice says, "You better get over here," and hangs up. He rushes over. The door is open and his heart chills as he runs up the stairs to her bedroom. He finds her brutally slain. A nearby note says, "Stop now", and on the other side, "Of course you won't. Next is your wife. PS - how's the pregnancy coming?" For the first time since early childhood, Sihn collapses in tears. Then uncontrollably his body changes into the Troll as he screams in agony...

 

Kingpin, as a lesson to the heroes, had the Troll's mother brutally slain after having previously attempted to warn her off. Of course she was ostensibly slain for gambling debts and through several intermediaries so his hands were "clean" but the PC knew better. The event, which served as an unrelated surprise tragic turn after

 

Furthermore, this dramatic an intrusion into the heroes' lives changed the whole situation. In real life it was very odd as in a way the game paralleled real life - the above event happened in real life on 9/8/01. As the PCs convened in the game world - and in real life via PBEM and later face-to-face, played out from 9/9 through the next few days - to discuss the horrible tragedy talk turned to "now this is war" against Kingpin, paralleling the war talk in the US following 9/11. What had been a more-or-less generic "war on crime" became a war for their own existence and freedom.

 

And the Troll was not to be denied his revenge on the stooge sent to kill his mother. He brutally killed - and ate - the assailant, luring him to a warehouse and terrifying him first. No mercy was given. The slaying was too much for the dark Troll to overlook heroically.

 

They did defeat Kingpin, the Troll even letting him live though he considered worse. However, later on when the Kingpin naturally was continuing his ways despite government "house arrest", the Troll did let the Kingpin get killed by a vigilante semi-hero that had been "created" (through psychological terror) by the Kingpin.

 

However, just recently, and in game time the end of the same year his mother was killed in, Sihn, having undergone a number of transformations, both physical and emotional, has surrendered himself to authorities for having slain his mother's killer. He's on bail right now but no one knows what will happen...